Bioloid Comprehensive Robot Kit

The Bioloid Comprehensive Robot Kit from Robotis is the first educational
robot kit based around "smart serially controlled servos" which are not only capable
of switching between positioning and full continuous rotation, but also provides
you with access to sensory feedback such as position, speed, temperature, current
draw and voltage of each servo. Bioloid kits are designed in a way that allow the
user to construct multiple types of robots. In addition to the great hardware, the
Bioloid Kit comes with some powerful GUI-based software. The software is freeware,
so whether you're using this kit for education, research, or personal recreation,
you can download and install it on as many computers as you need. Bioloid Robot
Kits are perfect for Education, Hobbies, Research and Competition.

Not an average robot kit, the Bioloid Comprehensive Kit from Robotis allows you
to build and configure over 26 robots!

This serial network is used to connect motors (AX-12) and sensors (AX-S1),
each of which have different Network ID's programmed in their non-volatile
memory.

The Bioloid frames are made from injection molded plastic and are superbly designed
- they fit and connect perfectly to each other as well as to the AX-12's and AX-S1's
supplied in the kit.

Bioloid Kit Software

There are two software utilities that come with the Bioloid kit, these are:
1. Motion Editor - a GUI that allows you to create motion sequences for your robot.
2. Behaviour Control Program - a GUI that allows you to program sequences of events/motions.

Using the Motion Editor in conjunction with the Behaviour Control Program allows
the programmer to use the Motion Editor to generate the robots motion sequences
and then use the Behaviour Control Program to implement the logic (or intelligence)
of the robot.

Both of these utilities are Freeware.

Educational Institutions can install the software on multiple PC's without infringing
on licensing agreements.

Bioloid Kit Motion Editor

The Motion Editor is a package that allows the user to move the motors
of a robot simply by INC or DEC the number that describes the motors current
position.

Motions are built up frame-by-frame - very similar to a story board in
an animation sequence. This allows quite complicated"animations" to be quickly
programmed and tested. Once a motion has been defined it can then be downloaded
into the CM-5's FLASH and called from the Behaviour Control Program.

Bioloid Kit Behaviour Control Program

The Behavior Control Program is a very nice package, it is easy and intuitive
to use.

A series of commands are entered that allow the programmer to interrogate
ALL the functionality of the AX-12, AX-S1 and the CM-5 mcu module. The functionality
accessible within the CM-5 includes playing motion sequences, external pushbuttons
and the CM-5's timer.

Another feature of the Behaviour Control Program is the debugging function
which allows variables to be displayed on the PC's screen whilst the program
is executing - making it very easy to calibrate AX-S1 sensors.

Programming the Bioloid Robot Kit in C

It is also possible to program the CM-5 module using freeware C compilers, such
as that made available by AVR Freaks.

This gcc compiler is a great freeware tool, coupled with the editor Programmers
Notepad.

This is an option for experienced programmers only though, you'll need to start
from the ground up - write all the communication protocol's from scratch, etc.,
etc.